The present invention relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to an electrical connector for connecting a central processing unit (CPU) to a mainboard of a computer.
With developments of electronic technology, a single electronic device can provide many different features. As a result, precision and stability become important features for enhancing functions of an electronic device. Therefore, quality control must be strictly performed in the manufacturing process. For example, the number of the input/output (I/O) pins of a chip module (e.g., CPU) are increased, while the size of each pin is reduced. Therefore, it is important to position a CPU firmly on the seat of a mainboard so as to enhance data transmission quality.
A conventional electrical connector for connecting a CPU with the mainboard of a computer is shown in FIG. 1. The electrical connector comprises a squared connector body 7 with a squared central opening and a plurality of pins 8. The connector body 7 has a support surface 70 on the top thereof for holding a sliding board 73 with a mounted chip module (not shown), an engagement surface 71 on the bottom for being engaged to a mainboard (not shown), a plurality of pin holes 72 penetrating through the corners of the connector body 7 for receiving the pins 8, and a lock lever 74 provided on one side of the support surface 70 for engaging the support surface 70 with the sliding board 73 so as to pivotably rotate the sliding board 73 with respect to the support surface 70 within a predetermined range of angles. With above arrangement, the pins of the chip module may be tightly engaged with engagement portions 83 of the pins 8, resulting in an electrical connection between the chip module and the mainboard. However, the previous design has several disadvantages: 1) The chip module mounted on the sliding board 73 may become loose when the lock lever 74 is pulled down to secure the sliding board 73 to the support surface 70 without using any additional fastening mechanism. As a result, a poor electrical connection between the chip module and the mainboard is formed. 2) The fastening portion 81 of the pin 8 is secured to the wall of the pin hole 72, while a rod 80 is engaged to the mainboard. Further, the engagement portion 83 is well engaged with the chip module by a force applied by the flexible portion 82, but the flexible portion 82 only has a short length, resulting in an insufficient elastic force. This may have a poor contact between the engagement portions 83 and the pins of the chip module.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector for securing a chip module on a mainboard of a computer.
Another object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector having a plurality of pins with a preferred elasticity for providing high quality data transmission ability between the mainboard and the chip module.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector comprising a connector body, a plurality of pins, a sliding board, and a lock lever wherein two tabs are provided on two opposing sides of the sliding board adjacent to a lock lever such that tabs may be bent to press the chip module mounted on the sliding board when the lock lever is pulled down to resist against the tabs. With this arrangement, the chip module is secured to the sliding board by the tabs.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector having a plurality of pins with an inverted L-shape. Further, the plurality of pins are overlapped in the pin holes such that the flexible portion of one pin may extend to adjacent pin when the rods of the pins are secured in the pin holes. It is provided that flexible portion has a relatively longer length as compared to a conventional one, resulting in a sufficient elastic force. As a result, a good contact between the engagement portions of the pins of the connector and the pins of the chip module is obtained, thereby enabling a high quality data transmission between the mainboard and the chip module.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.